IN BRIEF (Page 10)

Immigration officer swap

A two-week immigration officers exchange program between the mainland and Hong Kong has been launched in Guangdong province. It's a bid to provide both sides with opportunities to learn from each other in terms of efficiency and personal capability.

Three officers from the Hong Kong Immigration Department attached to the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and three officers from the Guangdong's Bureau of Entry and Exit Authority attached to the Hong Kong International Airport.

The program is co-organized by the Hong Kong Immigration Department and the Bureau of Entry and Exit Authority under the Ministry of Public Security.

Hebei food cleanup

A reduction of small food processing producers has been launched in Hebei province in an effort to improve the quality of food.

The quality supervision administration, department of commerce and bureau of sanitation in the province have joined forces to reduce the total amount of food made by small factories by 50 percent by the end of the year.

The drive will focus on banning a number of low-quality food providers or food producers without licenses and inedible ingredient users from production.

Coal gas

The local government of Hunan province will invest 30 million yuan in gas extraction and emission treatment of coal mines this year.

Any mines, which have adopted gas extraction and emission system, will be awarded 100,000 yuan while each large-scale gas integrated utilization project will be subsidized with 1 million yuan.

Hunan province has a high incidence of mine disasters mainly caused by gas emissions. There are 463 mines with gas problems, accounting for 41 percent of the total in the province.

Hi-tech forest fire fighting

Hi-tech methods, such as GPS, electronic eyes and remote surveillance systems, have increasingly been adopted for forest conservation and management in Shanxi province, in order to effectively decrease forest fires.

Each forest ranger will be equipped with a GPS device. When fires are detected, the rangers will report the longitude and latitude of the blaze in order to get immediate aid.

'One Village, Two Graduates'

Beijing will select and recruit about 3,000 university graduates to work in the rural areas this year, in an effort to ensure the implementation of a program called "One Village, Two Graduates".

Beijing says it will further improve the management of graduates working as village officials and keep its promises to give favorable policies.

Since 2005, there have been 5,041 university graduates working as officials or assistants in the suburban counties and villages.

Shenzhen grain storage

Construction of a grain warehouse has begun in Shenzhen, Guangdong province and it is expected to be completed by March next year.

The grain warehouse will cover an area of 77 hectares with a storage capacity of 170,000 tons.

About 400 million yuan will be invested in the project. Once completed, the grain warehouse will largely improve the grain reserve capacity in Shenzhen and can ensure a half-year grain supply for its residents.

Pay raise in Harbin

Staff of State-owned enterprises in Harbin, Heilongjiang province, have received pay hikes.

Staff salaries at about 200 State-owned enterprises in the provincial capital city were raised by 30 percent year on year, in the first two months of this year.

One business, Harbin Measuring and Cutting Tool Group Co Ltd saw its operational efficiency hit an all-time high this year. Since January, the income of its personnel was increased more than 200 yuan a month each.

(China Daily 04/21/2008 page10)